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Published: December 16th 2006
Ninja Turtles!
Halloween Costume of the Year!Munich is hailed for its incredible drinking festival, Oktoberfest, where beer is poured like water and parties abound in the streets. Although it is actually a misnomer because it is held in September. I have not been to this glorious festival, but my best friend from college and I always say how we will make it there one day, almost as if Munich is the Mecca and we are on our pilgrammage. Yet, many do not know how much the Japanese people can drink. I stayed in Hiroshima the whole month of October, and well, every weekend found myself...well...really drunk. Due to the drunken debauchery of the annual Saijo Sake Festival, birthday parties, and Halloween, I hereby dub October 2006, Oktoberfest- Japenese style! A short blog to record (and try to remember) the fun times had indulging in the sweet nectar of life. As quoted from my main man Will Ferrell 'It just hits your lips and it tastes so good...'
Sake Festival Every year a town east of Hirsohima, called Saijo, holds a sake festival. Despite being a very small town, it is the third largest distributor of sake in Japan! The population of the
Sake Galore
Dangerzone... town triples during the festival. We met businessmen (with remarkably bad teeth) who came all the way from Tokyo ($300 round-trip) just to taste sake. We attended the event last year and had the time of our lives, yet since the festival last year I could barely smell the stuff without cringing. Lisa and I and the rest of the Hiroshima gang got our drinking faces on and headed into the drinking arena. You pay 1500 yen and walk into a closed-off park. It’s like entering a drinker’s Disneyland. We are given a traditional sake cup and let loose to explore the wonders of sake. Lisa and I decided to keep track of how many cups of sake we drank. For every sake cup we consumed we would make a mark on our arm. As we raised our glasses for the first kanpai, a look of terror crossed our faces- were we really going to do this AGAIN!?
Due to certain events and a certain person in September, I must admit I was on a mission to get very drunk. All I have to say is mission accomplished. When it comes to sake I am anything but an
Lots of Drunkards
Whoever thought Japanese made drinking a family affair? expert. Yet I had a very successful method of choosing from the hundreds of sake offered: All the sakes were numbered. Someone would tell me that number 79 or 52 was good, and so I ordered it. Or, my other very technical method for choosing sake was to say ‘amaii’ which is sweet or ‘osusume’ which means ‘What do you recommend?’ You think they would get better as the day progressed, yet they all ended up tasting equally as bad! Lisa and I were on par for a while, but around 4 pm I kinda took off on my own, completely losing track of how many marks were on my arm. For every 1 cup of sake my friend Barbara was drinking, I was drinking 2 or 3. Needless to say this potent alcohol took me into a state of complete and utter debauchery. I remember having a GREAT time, doing what only my friends can tell me or I can see in my few photos. Sunday was NOT fun! Yet things got better on Monday. My two Hapa students (who speak fluent English) told me they saw me on the train on the way home. Yeah, I don’t remember
Round 2
Lisa is REALLY excited to do a second year at the Sake Festival. Suddenly, flashbacks of last year are reappearing quickly. that at all! Good showing!
Tanjoubi Omedetou Matt and Josh! I made the trek to Fukuyama for a joint birthday extravaganza. Fukuyama is a city 2 hours east of Hiroshima. Fukuyama is a hole. It seems every time I go there events revolve around parties and drinking. This was no different. The long tables were lined with nabe pots and delicious food was washed down with unlimited gin and tonics. Chaos broke loose when everyone decided to drink the raw eggs instead of cooking them. A crazy Aussie snorted wasabi since apparently eating it normally doesn't make your nose burn enough, before he decided to drop his pants. We continued on to Karaoke where I decided going to take shots with the waiters in the kitchen was a grand idea (free alcohol!). In an attempt to look cool and suave, I found myself facedown in the water trough lining the hallway of the karaoke bar. My friend Laurence showed me a greater appreciation for castles at 4 am. All in all a great night!
Gin Bucket Tiffany is a newcomer to Hiroshima. She studied with Nikki in Italy, and through that connection decided
Fill 'em up
I blame them for my state of drunkeness on Hiroshima as her home base for teaching English in Japan. She had a housewarming party at her new apartment. Tiffany is from Virginia and went to school in South Carolina. She is an absolute riot and has quickly become one of my closest friends here. She brought her southern accent and traditions with her to Japan. The drink of the night was this Gin Bucket. I do not know all the contents of this concoction except for large amounts of gin. To serve you suction up the poison in a turkey baster and squirt into ones throat. Makes you feel warm all over! Another great night with friends and added chaos to Oktoberfest!
Halloween! Halloween is my favorite holiday- the one day of the year it is okay to be someone else. Also, any day to wear costumes is my favorite day ever! I always had the best costumes for parties in college! They don’t technically celebrate Halloween in Japan, yet that doesn’t stop the foreigners from dressing up in costume and going out for a night on the town! My English Club has crumbled, so no Halloween party for them. Instead I took it to
It's Starting to Kick In..
When I start taking photos with random Japanese people... the classrooms and had mummy-wrapping contests. They LOVED it!
A club called Chinatown always has a huge Halloween event. We were unsure if the event would continue this year. The Hiroshima government has decided to enforce a ‘no dancing’ policy and has busted most of the clubs in Hiroshima. It is super lame- I feel like I am on the set of Footloose. Fortunately, the party was held! Somehow I talked 3 other girls into being the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with me. Of course I got to be my favorite, Michelangelo. Nikki was Donatello, Miren was Raphael, and Larissa was Leonardo. Nikki and I headed to the 100 store and came out with 4 matching costumes. It was soooo incredibly fun! Larissa, aka Leonardo, talked our friend Ahmed into being Shredder. We even ate pizza for dinner! No repeat of the sake festival, just a fun night of dancing, drinking, being a bad influence on Japanese people, and getting jipped out of winning first prize for the Halloween costume contest!
Wow…what a month! Guess you could say I was making up for the game days back home I was missing. Taking drinking to a whole
Sake Onegaishi- Oh No!
Brian, drunk, decided getting on this stranger's back was a good idea. Absolutely classic, with the nice spillage down the front... new level in japan.
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Robbin
non-member comment
YAY!
Hello, Beautiful girl!!!! rock the turtle. i miss you!